Marquis partners with LanzaJet to build an integrated sustainable fuel plant in Hennepin

Marquis Sustainable Aviation Fuel has partnered with LanzaJet to build an integrated sustainable fuels plant in Hennepin.

The companies entered into a memorandum of understanding Thursday to construct a 120 million gallons per year fuel plant. This plant will use low-carbon intensity feedstocks to produce sustainable aviation fuel.

This first-of-a-kind plant will be located in the Marquis Industrial Complex in Hennepin on a 2,500-acre industrial site adjacent to the Illinois River and in proximity to vital pipelines to deliver sustainable fuels to Chicago O’Hare and Chicago Midway International Airports.

The plant will employ on-site carbon capture and sequestration and renewable energy to produce sustainable aviation fuels. The group’s release states that this will result in a lifecycle greenhouse gas reduction of more than 70% compared to conventional jet fuel.

“We strongly believe in the importance of taking action today to enable the decarbonization of industry and our partnership with Marquis is a clear example of putting this into practice,” LanzaJet CEO Jimmy Samartzis said.

Samartzis added that he believes this could help open the door for the country to produce smarter and more sustainable fuels moving forward.

“This demonstrates the opportunity for the U.S. to produce meaningful volumes of sustainable aviation fuel at scale, transitioning feedstocks from the production of traditional biofuels into sustainable aviation fuel,” Samartzis said. “SAF from existing biofuel sources alone could replace more than 50% of the U.S. fossil jet fuel use.”

“The key is low carbon intensity, where existing infrastructure is paired with carbon capture and sequestration and renewable energy. Marquis is doing exactly this and makes for a great partnership with LanzaJet.”

Marquis also recently announced a plan for the Marquis Industrial Complex to be the world’s first carbon-neutral industrial complex with on-site access to carbon injection.

“The partnership we have in place with LanzaJet allows our company to advance low-carbon solutions to address the climate crisis,” CEO of Marquis SAF, Mark Marquis said. “LanzaJet’s ATJ technology will be fully integrated into a new end-to-end field to sustainable fuels plant with a focus on producing sustainable aviation fuel and renewable diesel.”

Marquis added that they are also investing in carbon capture, corn kernel fiber technology and are utilizing Marquis’ proprietary ProCap system for the production of high protein feed and renewable corn oil in this new facility.

“This will enable us to lead the decarbonization of the transportation sector in the years to come,” Marquis said.

The partnership between these two Illinois-based companies to create the fully-integrates SAF plant will significantly expand the production of sustainable fuels in the U.S and place Illinois at the center of this expansion in building sustainable infrastructure that will help reduce carbon emissions.

Production of sustainable fuel made from low carbon intensity corn, in partnership with Marquis, is scheduled to begin engineering in 2022.